Daily Archives: April 13, 2009

Brown has written personally to all of the Tories who were the object of Damian McBride’s proposed smear campaign.

And he has just released a letter to Sir Gus O’Donnell calling for a tightening of the rules which govern special advisers.

This would ensure that “if they are ever found to be preparing and disseminating inappropriate material they will automatically lose their jobs“.

Er, isn’t that what happened anyway? To some eyes this may appear like a ridiculous smokescreen.

Anyway, here is the letter.

1O DOWNING STREET
LONDON SW1A2AA
THE PRIME MINISTER 13 Aprj| 2Q09

Dear Gus

I am writing about the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, and the proposals I want to make to tighten this up.

I am assured that no Minister and no political adviser other than the person involved had any knowledge of or involvement in these private emails that are the subject of current discussion, and I have already taken responsibility for acting on this – first by accepting Mr McBride’s resignation and by making it clear to all concerned that such actions have no part to play in the public life of our country. I have also written personally to all those who were subject to these unsubstantiated claims. Read more

When last September I advised Derek Draper to set up a “sort of anti-Guido of the left” I didn’t exactly have Red Rag in mind. Read more

General election 2015

Countdown to May 7

About this blog

Blog guide

The fragmentation of UK politics makes the 2015 general election the most unpredictable in living memory. Follow Jim Pickard, Kiran Stacey and the rest of the FT team for unique insights as the campaign gets underway.

VIDEOS

<div class="railMiniVideo-player-nojs">
You need JavaScript active on your browser in order see this video.
</div>

The authors

Jim Pickard is the FT's chief political correspondent, having joined the lobby team in January 2008. He has been at the FT since 1999 as a regional correspondent, assistant UK news editor and property correspondent.

Kiran Stacey is an FT political correspondent, having joined the lobby in 2011. He started at the FT as a graduate trainee in 2008, working on desks including UK companies and US equity markets before taking over the FT's Energy Source blog.